


to the howlbeasts

by Caracalliope



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Eldritchfuck Roseworld, Friendship is Magic, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Injury Recovery, Recovery, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 09:24:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20307193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caracalliope/pseuds/Caracalliope
Summary: Eldritchfuck Roseworld - Dead John edition. Rose is out on a mysterious errand, and Sollux finds somebody else who can't sleep.





	to the howlbeasts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Etnoe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etnoe/gifts).

Sollux figures that his jackass friends are all asleep after the day they had, but he finds Terezi awake, curled up on the floor by the couch. Apparently, Rose used to be strict about who gets to use the furniture and when.

Stiffly, he kneels down beside her, which is easier than sitting on his ass. He doesn’t think he’s banned from the couches specifically, considering the way he had oozed blood all over everything in Rose’s room with no repercussions except for her changing his bandages over and over again until she got it right. But Terezi is crying, or sobbing quietly anyway, so he guesses he can be her floor buddy.

Terezi needs a moment to recognize him, considering her snifftube is all clogged up. “Mister Favorite Honeysnack,” she rasps.

“Favorite for now,” he says. He knows it makes him sound like a blowhard, but it’s becoming his motto. It needs to be said every time he talks to anyone.

His other motto is just a fuckload of different ways of saying ‘No, she hasn’t been raping me.’ Usually, he tries to make it a little funny, but only FF and Tavros laughed. And Jane, which was a weird, nice surprise.

Terezi wipes her mostly-dry face, and blows her nose with a wad of toilet paper that’s already dripping with teal snot. “Why aren’t you in bed?” she asks.

“I’m worried that my new mistress is in trouble while I sleep in her bed like an ungrateful - ehehehe, nah, back’s just itchy.” It’s not like Rose has far to go. He was as worried as everyone else the first night she disappeared, mostly scared that she’d come home with some new torture device. But this is the third night in a row that she goes missing, and everything’s been fine so far. Inductively speaking, it’s going to continue to be fucking fine. Anyway, it’s not like Sollux can do anything if it stops.

Maybe Rose discovered troll yoga, or some other way to self-conciliate? Shit, he’s got to add that to Karkat’s mental corkboard of Rose theories.

“Sollux? You zoned out.” Terezi pokes him in an uninjured area of leg. “Are you sure she’s not -”

“I’m two hundred percent sure. She doesn’t want to pail me, she just thinks I’m a delightful conversationalist.”

Terezi does snort, but it’s probably more because of the snot than humor. Yeah, he’s running out of funny lines about it. He’s been kind of wanting to point out that Rose isn’t fucking anybody else, either, not anymore. But he can’t think of a way to say that without sounding like Dave used to sound about John - stupid and protective.

He doesn’t want to think about Dave and John.

“Hey, where are your new shades, TZ? Um, did Rose take them back, or like -”

“Hm? No, they’re fine. They’re by my bed. I’m glad to have them. And I - guess I should go back to bed, too?”

The answer sounds kind of strained and nervous, and Sollux is reminded again that the favorite should never snoop. It makes people jumpy. Well, Karkat used to snoop, but everyone trusts Karkat.

He shrugs and hums that he doesn’t care whether Terezi feels true joy in her bloodpusher over Rose’s gift. Except, the shrug hurts his back, enough to make him hiss. Terezi’s blind anyway, she can barely smell shrugs, why is he such an idiot?

“I can smell you tearing something open, loser,” she says. “You’re bleeding through again, right?”

“Maybe,” he grits out. “It’s fine.” He quickly dries his eyes. He’s been wearing the new shades _all the time_ because they’re awesome and it’s not like his position as Rose’s pet could get any more blatant. But they don’t help with reflexive wiggler-level pain tears.

Terezi pats his knee. “Yeah, I am sure it’s fine. Can I change your bandages?”

Sollux blinks.

“Uh, Rose always does that,” he points out, carefully. He’s been running wild with creative interpretations of her orders, but this seems pretty big. If Rose is getting off on being his pale benefactor, she won’t be happy to find out someone else has interfered.

“So tell her I scared you into agreeing.”

Keeping his shoulders perfectly straight, Sollux shakes his head. “TZ, are you out of your mind?”

“Maybe! I just keep sitting around doing nothing, I can’t help Dave or Kanaya or Jade. I need some danger! I keep thinking about things. Help me out, Captor, I wouldn’t ask you if I thought you’d get into too much trouble.”

Sollux believes her about that, and he remembers the craving too. You start with that bad idea itch, and then you end up - well, here.

“Okay,” he says, thinking about how very much Karkat would kill them both if he knew what they were about to do. “Here or in the ablution block?”

“Ablution room, so no-one walks in. Or we could do it in Rose’s respite room -”

“Ablution block,” Sollux repeats, firmly.

Terezi stands up, looking fully like herself again. She even extends a hand to help him up.

“Remember, we’re blaming me,” she says, and it sounds smooth and confident even though he can see the desperation in the corner of her eyes. She really should start wearing her shades.

“Yeah, I’m totally throwing you to the howlbeasts,” Sollux lies. “But I bet we won’t even get in trouble. My delightful conversation will make her forget she ever caught us.”

Terezi finally cackles, quietly enough not to wake anyone.


End file.
